Ork and Sergal War
"The war goes ill for us. This is not a request, human. My people are dying! We need the assisstance of the United Nations now!" - King Normedus of Argos addressing the United Nations about the war. 'The Ork and Sergal War '''was a large scale conflict in Velous that began in 2159 when the massive Ork WAAAGH Ghazghkull under Warlord Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka began an invasion of the Sergal homeland, Argos, along with surrounding territories. The war was long and difficult for the Sergals. The Orks held an upper hand in terms of numbers, and weaponry. In addition, the Sergals were greatly weakened after the deposing of General-Queen Rain Silves, and the subsequent loss of resources and territory. The Sergals were slowly losing ground over the course of the war, as they were forced to abandon more and more to the marauding Orks. The Sergal people requested help from the UNSC many times, but the humans were reluctant to aid the sergals for fear of the Orks turning their war efforts on Terra's countries - this combined with the fact that the Human nations were at odds with the Sergal people after the previous regime in power. This conflict was a source of much political unrest throughout the alliance of Earth governments for many years. The war concluded in 2163, when the Sergals were beaten back to their very last bastion along their southern mountains before they would face total defeat. In a surprise attack, the UNSC launched a huge nuclear strike on Orsinium, the Ork homeland, killing 80% of the Ork population within the span of an hour, and leveling all but Gorgutar City which was protected with anti-missile defenses. In the confusion, the UNSC launched a huge last-ditch offensive against the Orks on Argos, which resulted in the retreat of WAAAGH Ghazghkull, where they fell back to Gorgutar, to put up a final defensive. When the UNSC and Sergal combined forces landed on Orkish soil, it began the final battle of the war, the Battle of Gorgutar. The UNSC and Sergals were initially slaughtered at the beachhead of the City, but regrouped and bravely pushed forward, smashing the beach defensive. When they reached the gates, they again faced very heavy resistance, and fought much like this throughout the city for 3 long days. In the final push, the joint forces grouped up and pushed for Gork'han Hold, throne of the Warlord Ghazghkull. After much fighting and casualties, they broke through and the Warlord was killed. The Orks that did not die in the battle went into hiding, and this ended the war, around November of 2171. Afterwards, the Sergals celebrated and began to rebuild their homeland in the wake of the war that nearly destroyed their entire race. The day of the ork defeat is now an Argopotamian holiday, which is now known as ''Das e'Alkosh (The Day of Anurel, in the Sergal language). Origins The roots of the cataclysmic conflict that destroyed much of Argos stem back to the reign of the so-called "Mad Queen" of the sergals, Rain Silves. Prior to the downfall of Rain's Regime, also called the Empire of Argos, the capital city of all the sergal empire was Elohim, a beautiful and sprawling city that housed a quarter of the empire's population within its walls alone. The capital was under the strict control of Queen Rain herself, and it was essentially the nucleus of her empire. By the time of her Empire's downfall, Elohim was the target of the ever-growing rebel faction which was headed by Queen Rain's own brother Normedus, the one who many argued was the rightful king of the sergals. As unrest grew within the Empire, as nation after nation became annexed by Argos, more and more slaves were claimed and cultures were extinguished. The incredible power Queen Rain consolidated was going to her head, indeed, sentiments rose that the Queen was going more insane by the day. To many, Normedus was a beacon of hope, a leader who descended from the same royalty as Rain, but promised a new dawn for the sergals, where none were at risk of being persecuted, jailed, or worse, from the Queen's harsh policies. It was no surprise that in these turbulent times, Normedus' following grew. Finally, the fateful day came where Normedus was ready to reclaim his father's throne and challenge the Mad Queen, his sister. Normedus' armies marched on the walled city of Elohim, and after a very long siege and reclaiming of the capital, Queen Rain was finally cornered. She surrendered, though driven over the edge by her humiliating defeat. She believed she was so close to claiming the whole world for herself. Normedus ensured her that this was not to be, and instead of executing her, he showed mercy for his sister and had her imprisoned for life, in recompense for her crimes against the kingdom and world. Following the deposing of the Mad Queen, the Sergal empire entered an immediate state of decline. The previous skirmishes across Argos between the rebels and loyalists ruined much of the countryside, to say nothing of the lives and families destroyed by the war itself. The capital itself, Elohim, was ravaged by strife, as untold property damage strained the empire in their efforts to rebuild. Normedus foresaw all this prior to the war's conclusion, and knew that he must secure his power immediately. However this was a challenge, since Normedus sought to reinstate the Imperial Council, which Queen Rain previously disbanded. The Council saw his rebellion as a serious contributor to the Empire's decline, and many were reluctant to stand with their new king. This divided the Council, further weakening the Empire itself. In the distant land of Orsinium, the bloodthirsty Orks were watching the sergals closely. The greenskins have a long and brutal history with the Sergals dating back thousands of years, to the days of the Dragon Empire. The Orks, and in particular, their strongest and most influential warlord, Ghazghkull Thraka, were awaiting the perfect chance to strike out against their ancient foes and destroy them once and for all. In their current state of decline, while their entire nation was divided, Warlord Ghazghkull knew that now was the time to launch his war. The Invasion Begins Many military strategists that reflect on the Ork and Sergal conflict note the uncanny patience which Warlord Ghazghkull exhibited during his campaign. Unlike typical Ork strategies which rely simply on overwhelming foes and carving them to pieces, the Warlord opted for total, strategic annihilation over simple mindless slaughter. Having united many of the disparate Ork clans of Orsinium under the banner of Ghazghkull, the Warlord now had the military might of the most of the continent behind him. He had millions of Orks, many hundreds of warships, and nearly unlimited artillery and vehicles ready for combat. Warlord Ghazghkull began his campaign with a strategy that no Ork leader would have given any thought to previously. The Warlord devised a plan to completely fool the Sergal defense forces before going for the ultimate goal of slaughter. Ghazghkull knew that the northwestern peninsula, as well as the western coastline of Argos would be extremely well defended and manned, due to its proximity to Orsinium, the ork homeland. For this reason, the Warlord decided to split his forces. One war fleet of several hundred ships was sent across the northern sea to get into position near the eastern-most, sparsely defended cape of Argos. The reason this cape was not heavily defended like the western coastline, was due to the fact that Argos only faces the Eastern Sea from this direction, where the most conflict in this area comes from pirates, which are easily dealt with by the Sergal navy - and for this reason, the eastern coastline was only watched by small forts and bunkers in the mountains equipped with a few cannons and limited manpower. Ghazghkull's second warfleet was to sit on standby at a generous distance from Argos' western coastline, and await further instruction. This strategy confused many high-ranking nobz in the Warlord's hordes, but the promise of destruction and carnage kept them obedient as long as Ghazghkull needed. Then, on October 14th, 2159, the Warlord gave the order for his eastern warfleet to begin the assault of Argos. Orkish carriers advanced to the coastline, carrying wartrukks, scrap tanks, and battlewagons. Meanwhile, the warships and destroyers of the eastern fleet remained in position off the coastline, prepared to bombard the sparse sergal defenses once any sign of activity occurred. Once again, Ghazghkull's strategy was to take the sergals completely by surprise, and not give away his fleet's position until it was necessary. He planned to divert the Sergal efforts from the western coastline to the eastern coastline, in order to take Argos from two fronts and pincer the sergal defenses. It didn't take long for the sergals defenses on the eastern coastline to realize that an invasion was underway. However, the sergal forces only perceived an invasion from the east, and due to the distance of the western orkish fleet from the coastline, they had no idea a second fleet was even in place. Almost immediately after the orkish ships were spotted, the forts guarding the eastern coastline dispatched a courier bearing news of the invasion from the east. As planned, once the sergal defenses watching the eastern coast began to fire at the incoming carriers, the orkish warships unloaded volley after volley of scrap and explosives onto the hapless forts. Chaos ensued, as many fortifications and bunkers were lost, torn apart by shrapnel and flame. The sergal defense force quickly realized that they didn't have any chance of repelling the invaders, and performed a strategic retreat. Meanwhile, the courier that was dispatched rode hard from the eastern coastline to the capital, Elohim. There, the warning was given to King Normedus' military generals, who requested a course of action from the King. Normedus of course demanded that the a defense fleet be dispatched to aid in repelling the orkish invaders. The Offensive Begins The Battle of Elohim Petitioning the South The Last Bastion The Tide Turns Category:Wars